The Potala Palace | Todd and Ziqin's Travels

The second day in Lhasa we headed to the Potala Palace. We had our breakfast at the hotel, it was self-served, western style, and it was included in our fee. It was funny the manager of the restaurant was an Indian! On our way there, I thought it would be a long ride from our hotel; however, it was merely a 10 minutes ride. The Potala Palace is located in the center of the downtown area and was built on a small hill. Right in front of the foot of the Palace there is a thoroughfare with a continuous flow of traffic. It was absolutely not the way I imagined the Potala Palace. In my mind, the Potala Palace should be like a castle standing aloof from the rest of the world, and it should be situated in some remote and quiet countryside, rather than the hustle and bustle city center! Because that is how all the media had showed to the public! Todd said the Potala Palace was the government body of Tibet, of course it should be located in the city center. What I portrayed was a summer house, which was totally irrelevant. My rosy dream was crushed, so I’ll have to post one picture to crush yours. Fair enough. We had to go through the security check from a side gate to get into the yard of the Palace, where our tour guide briefed us on the history and the functions of the Potala Palace. The white Palace serves as the living rooms and offices for political events, while the red Palace is composed of the holy stupas for several Dalai and Buddha‘s palaces. To get inside of the Palace, one had to climb up all the stair leading to the entrance of the main gate.

It was not an easy task given that it was located at the altitude of over 3,000 meters! You can tell it by the people snailing up the stairs around you. I felt my heart beat too fast and my lungs started to feel hurt. Todd was not bothered by the altitude as much as I was, for he used to climb the tall mountains since he was a teenager. Our tour guide told us that due to the large number of tourists per day and for the sake of security. Each visitor was only assigned an hour to be inside of the Palace, so we had to follow her tightly and she would cover the most important parts in her explanation. I could not recall if it was allowed to take pictures within the Palace but judging from the pictures we have of that day, I guess the answer is no (Just checked my husband’s post, no photos inside). Without the help of the pictures, my only impression of the Palace was it’s huge with lots and lots of rooms, and the smell of incense was really strong. In some of the chapels, we could hear the monks chanting the scriptures. Inside of the Palace, Everyone minded his/her own business only, the monks chanted the scriptures, the Tibetan worshiped the Buddha and the tourists visited in awe. However, soon as we went out of the Potala Palace the vendors swarmed to us to solicit their smallware. After the Potala Palace, we wen to the Jokhang Temple, which was built in 647 by Songtsen Gampo, the Tibetan King. It was within the walking distance from the Potala Palace. Devout men and women on pilgrimage trip can be seen worshiping outside the Temple.

Our tour guide introduced a lot about the Jokhang Temple, but I did not remember much of it. However, I did remember the conversation we had when we wandered around inside. She said she was selected to the University of Foreign Languages in Beijing, one the top universities in China to learn English. However, it was the year right after the violent incident of Tibetan mobs attaching Han people here. She shared a story with us “When we went out shopping outside campus, the owner of the shops would ask us where we are from. Once heard we are Tibetan, they bluntly ordered us to leave, which was really sad for us.” I did not finish my four years university study in Beijing because I had a major illness in school and decided to come back home for treatment. However, soon as I landed in Tibet, I was fully healed.” “My classmates are all in governmental bodies, and some of them are overseas.” She was smiling when she talked about all these, but I can tell from her voice that she was a bit regretful for her own path of life.

The rooftop of the main building was made of gold, it was really shiny.

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